Dead Battery and locks won’t work

[Pedaldude]

Truck has been at the dealer for two days. Parasitic drain of 3A! Everytime they make a change it takes 75mins to redo the module sleep test...

Parasitic drain testing is one of the most hates diagnostics for this reason. My Lincoln likes to go through batteries a bit more than the average car, it’s a 2001 and the modules that go to sleep take exactly 45 min. and to see which one is creating the drain, you isolate the modules, taking out one fuse at a time. Certain ones are known to be more at issue than others but to be thorough, you can’t make assumptions. Long story short, I spent a whole 12 hours over one night, working a few minutes at a time and also had to trick the door to think it was shut. Then just to be thorough, you need to check to make sure that something isn’t randomly waking up long after they originally went to sleep. The truck used a fair amount of juice but was 100 percent in spec. but I had to go through the whole rigamarole to eliminate it as a problem. I really don’t know why, especially a 2001 truck needs to have certain modules to be draining the battery for 45 minutes but if it behaves just fine turning on after a night sitting, why can’t it go off after 5 minutes instead of draining the battery needlessly for five times that duration?

On these modern vehicles, where they’re connected wirelessly and there’s multiple programmable computers all connected, I can’t see why a parasitic drain can even happen, unless it was just sloppy programming and design. 75 minutes is preposterous and while an AGM battery is slightly better than a FLA, it’s not going to prevent damage after multiple deep cycles, there also needs to be some kind of storage mode for when you don’t want all the modules cycled and reset when the battery is disconnected, either for service or long term storage/parking...the worst I ever saw was a Hyundai Genesis that had to be towed to the dealer for reprogramming because the air suspension wouldn’t function after collision repair necessitated disconnecting the battery. It had to be jacked up with floor jacks just to get it off the hydraulic lift.

Mercedes just had to contract a technology company to make third party repairs on their cars at dealerships because they made them so complicated that they can’t figure out how to fix their own cars.

There really needs to be a fail-safe system when it comes to all the technology in modern vehicles. Something that can be an inconvenience to some could prove deadly in an emergency or remote area.

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[2dogcamper]

My battery was very low the first day, but I also had all the doors open installing a front and rear dash cam, had the ignition on getting all the settings and radio stations setup. When I was installing my BedRug I noticed the bed lights would not come on, only the light at the top of the cab. I put my battery charger on and the battery was less than 25%. But no wonder the truck has less than 25 miles which is not enough to fully charge the battery and the battery was probably made 6 months ago. Not really Fords fault.

 

[KBKEITH]

My battery was very low the first day, but I also had all the doors open installing a front and rear dash cam, had the ignition on getting all the settings and radio stations setup. When I was installing my BedRug I noticed the bed lights would not come on, only the light at the top of the cab. I put my battery charger on and the battery was less than 25%. But no wonder the truck has less than 25 miles which is not enough to fully charge the battery and the battery was probably made 6 months ago. Not really Fords fault.

Hopefully you don’t have multiple times when your battery discharges to the point that you need the physical key to open the door and a jump start.

Several of us here are having chronic battery discharge issues so there is definitely something faulty going on.

After a second dead battery on my truck yesterday, it currently sits in the garage with a battery charger hooked up. I charged it yesterday to 13.08V. Just sitting overnight and just checking 10 minutes ago, my DMM showed 12.1V.

 

[Bryan Simon]

Better than 1.5 overnight?
something is definitely dragging that thing down.

 

[KBKEITH]

Better than 1.5 overnight?
something is definitely dragging that thing down.

Definitely a vampire in there somewhere. Dealer appointment set for Wednesday morning.

 

[Jim Bandy]

I'm glad I purchased a NOCO G150 - I do have a larger (Craftmans) battery charger in the garage. From all these post about batteries - Ford production line has bad and/or weak batteries. Has the delearships been responding in getting new batteries for each of you? From reading - it seems the 2021 electronics are extremly sensitive to voltage drop. I won't be driving my truck daily - so guess putting it on a trickel charge will help.

 

[KBKEITH]

I'm glad I purchased a NOCO G150 - I do have a larger battery charger in he garage. From all these post about batteries - Ford production line has bad and/or weak batteries. Has the delearships been responding in getting new batteries for each of you?

Yep, my NOCO saved my bacon yesterday. So glad I bought one.

 

[Joekuz]

I didn't know this was an issue until it happened to me tonight. 4 WK old lariat went haywire as I tried to start it. Eventually got it started with a jump, but now locks won't engage, navigation, backup camera, and stereo are not working. Appreciate all the information in this forum.

 

[Desertdweller]

Hopefully you don’t have multiple times when your battery discharges to the point that you need the physical key to open the door and a jump start.

Several of us here are having chronic battery discharge issues so there is definitely something faulty going on.

After a second dead battery on my truck yesterday, it currently sits in the garage with a battery charger hooked up. I charged it yesterday to 13.08V. Just sitting overnight and just checking 10 minutes ago, my DMM showed 12.1V.

FWIW, some of you know I just got my KR back from a 5A parasitic drain which turned out to be 3 different issues corrected by changing a pinched harness going to the fuse block. But what I wanted to also mention is that I have had 3 or 4 batteries replaced by Ford in the 10 days of this problem. Evidently the AGM batteries they are using tend to go bad if drained too deep. They have a pass/fail tester that they put them on. I'm sure Ford doesn't like paying for batteries, but you all might be wise to have them checked out if they have gone completely dead to where you need to use a key to get into your truck.

 

[KBKEITH]

FWIW, some of you know I just got my KR back from a 5A parasitic drain which turned out to be 3 different issues corrected by changing a pinched harness going to the fuse block. But what I wanted to also mention is that I have had 3 or 4 batteries replaced by Ford in the 10 days of this problem. Evidently the AGM batteries they are using tend to go bad if drained too deep. They have a pass/fail tester that they put them on. I'm sure Ford doesn't like paying for batteries, but you all might be wise to have them checked out if they have gone completely dead to where you need to use a key to get into your truck.

That’s really good info to pass along, thank you for that.

I’m glad to hear that your problem finally seems to be solved. Certainly what happened to you was a fluke with the pinched wire and all.

My original battery was drained twice to the point that I had to use the actual key to unlock the door and required a jump start each time. Now that I’ve had my new battery (plus 2 FSAs taken care of) it will be interesting to see if I get the same issue again. I’m going to try and not drive it over the weekend and see what Monday morning brings.....

 

[LuisCarrillo91]

I went in to the dealership and had my recall done and requested to check the battery. They said the battery is good. I’m just hoping this doesn’t happen again. I’m going to have to try to not drive it during the week next week and see if it happens again.

 

[mrtrav]

I am waiting on delivery of my truck, but want to prepare for something like this as I spend time at the lake a lot and dont want to be left stranded because of a dead battery. I keep one of these on my boat in case I have a dead battery on the water, would this work in place of the $2-300 NOCO models referenced here?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BGRN4TF/

 

[KBKEITH]

I am waiting on delivery of my truck, but want to prepare for something like this as I spend time at the lake a lot and dont want to be left stranded because of a dead battery. I keep one of these on my boat in case I have a dead battery on the water, would this work in place of the $2-300 NOCO models referenced here?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BGRN4TF/

Sure. That should work just fine.

 

[BDUBSpeed]

FWIW, some of you know I just got my KR back from a 5A parasitic drain which turned out to be 3 different issues corrected by changing a pinched harness going to the fuse block. But what I wanted to also mention is that I have had 3 or 4 batteries replaced by Ford in the 10 days of this problem. Evidently the AGM batteries they are using tend to go bad if drained too deep. They have a pass/fail tester that they put them on. I'm sure Ford doesn't like paying for batteries, but you all might be wise to have them checked out if they have gone completely dead to where you need to use a key to get into your truck.
[/QUOTE

Mine went completely dead. I didn't have to use the key to unlock it because it was in a garage already unlocked, but I would have. And my battery charger wouldn't do it. Only a NOCO would get it to start.

 

[KBKEITH]

These NOCO jump starters should come standard with the new F-150s.
?

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